Damon Runyon Foundation

Damon Runyon Clinical Investigator Award

Program Summary

The Damon Runyon Clinical Investigator Award supports young physician-scientists conducting patient-oriented cancer research. The goal is to increase the number of physicians capable of moving seamlessly between the laboratory and the patient’s bedside in search of breakthrough treatments.

The Clinical Investigator Award responds to three recognized realities:

Though there has never been a more pressing need or more promising time for clinical cancer research, fewer young physicians enter this area of investigation every year.

The number of institutions committed to training young physicians in the scientific discipline and methodologies of clinical investigation is critically low.

The burden of medical school debt (averaging over $100,000) discourages many physicians from pursuing clinical investigation.

The Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation’s award offers solutions to these realities. The awardee will receive financial support for three years, as well as assistance with certain research costs such as the purchase of equipment. The Foundation will also retire up to $100,000 of any medical school debt still owed by the awardee.

Eligibility

The applicant must be a U.S. citizen or permanent legal resident.

Each applicant must be nominated by his/her institution. Only three (3) nominations per institution, including its affiliated schools, will be accepted.

The applicant must have received an MD or MD/PhD degree(s) from an accredited institution and be board-eligible.

The applicant must apply within the first four (4) years of his/her initial full faculty appointment (cut-off July 2009). Adjunct or acting positions are not eligible.

Candidates may apply up to three times during this eligibility period. Candidates holding or awarded R01s at the time of application are not eligible to apply.

The applicant must commit to spending 80% of their time conducting research.

The applicant is required to apply in conjunction with a Mentor who is established in the field of clinical translational cancer research, cancer prevention and/or epidemiology and can provide the critical guidance needed during the period of the award. No more than two Damon Runyon Clinical Investigators will be funded to work with the same Mentor at any given time.

About the Award

The $450,000 award will be for a period of three years. Funding in the amount of $150,000 will be allocated to the awardee’s institution each year for the support of the Clinical Investigator. Funds are intended to be flexible and can be used for a variety of scientific needs including the Investigator’s stipend and/or fringe benefits (up to $100,000), salaries for professional and technical personnel, special equipment, supplies and other miscellaneous items required to conduct the proposed research. No part of this grant can be used for indirect costs or institutional overhead.

Investigators may receive funding from other sources to support their research. However, no other physician-scientist career development award from a private source (non-federal government) may be held concurrently with the Clinical Investigator Award. Physician-scientist career development awards from the federal government including the National Institutes of Health (e.g., K-08, K-12, K-23), the Department of Defense, and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs are allowed.

Scientific or budgetary overlap with other funded projects is not allowed. Therefore, it is critical that all current and pending grant support for your research be reported to the Foundation and the relationship of that support to the Damon Runyon funded project be explained. See Other Funding for examples of awards that cannot be held concurrently with the Damon Runyon award.

Internal Selection Procedure

The Office of the Vice President for Research and the Carver College of Medicine have established an internal review procedure to select the UI nominees. Applications will be reviewed according to the sponsor’s selection criteria. Consideration will also be given to UI institutional strengths and strategic directions. Potential applicants must submit, using the preselection link below, the following information:

A two page CV

A description of the proposed project. It should have the following elements:

A cover sheet with the project title, your name and department, and the title of the program you are responding to.

A description of the proposed research (no more than five pages in length, including references, figures, tables and legends). The following sponsor-identified selection criteria should be addressed:

Aim(s);

Significance; and

Innovation, creativity, quality and originality of the research plan and the experimental designs, strategies and methods to be used.

Please be sure the project is identified on each page and number the pages.

The above materials must be submitted to no later than 5:00 p.m. on Wednesday, December 19, 2012. The selected nominees will be asked to complete the full application package in accordance with the sponsor's deadline of Friday, February 15, 2013.